


Squire Among Pages

by pallysuune



Category: Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 19:29:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20953715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallysuune/pseuds/pallysuune
Summary: Alex is the only of the squires elevated that Midwinter to not have a knight master. He doesn't know why, but he's determined to be good, better, best.Alan thinks he's sulking.He's not sulking... not much, at least.





	Squire Among Pages

When Midwinter came, they were all excited. Finally out of their page days, they were moving on to be squires. Alex, Raoul, Gary, and Francis, all advanced at the same time, all excited to be moving forward with their training. One step closer to becoming knights.

Gary was his closest friend, and had been since he’d first come to the palace years ago, when his cutting sense of humor first made the larger boy laugh. Within _hours_ of his promotion, it was announced he would be squired to his father, Gareth of Naxen, as everyone expected. Alex didn’t envy him, Duke Gareth would be a hard master to please, but it would make Gary a good knight.

A few days later, it was announced that Raol would be squired to Arryn of Disart. It wasn’t that surprising, either, as Disart and Goldenlake were related by marriage many generations back, and though Arryn was not a common figure at court, he was a good knight, and he had come in shortly before midwinter. Rumor had it, he was looking for a wife. 

Francis was next. On the final day of Midwinter, Lukas of Blythdin announced he would be taking Francis as his squire. 

Everyone was waiting for Alex to be picked. He was the best swordsman of their class. He was good at his scholarly work. He was strong willed and determined. And yet… as time went on, no knight stepped forward to claim him.

Midwinter passed, and many of the knights who’d come into Corus for the holiday scattered back to their homes. And still, Alex was left. His friends moved out of the page’s wing, into the rooms adjoining their knights - but there was no special room for those squires who weren’t chosen. So, Alex remained in his room in the page’s wing, stoically ignoring the looks from the younger boys. He threw himself into his training, spending what little free time he had with a sword in his hand. He must not have been good enough - why else wouldn’t he have been chosen? Why else would he be the squire left among pages? Maybe, maybe if he were _better_...

He felt isolated. The lone squire among a bunch of pages, with no knight master to help his training. He wondered if his friends thought he wasn’t good enough to be squired to a knight too, that thought that had been hounding him. Did they see him as lesser? The thought tore at him, and several dummies in the training courts suffered for his foul moods.

“Alex?”

He paused, the sword still held in his left hand, poised over the canvas and straw of the training dummy as he glanced back, dark eyes lighting on the redhead standing in the doorway. “Alan.”

The younger boy came a little closer, eyeing the damage of the dummy before turning his gaze back to Alex. He had a few scrolls and pages tucked under his arm. For a moment, it looked like he was going to snap at him, though he couldn’t imagine what for, and then his small face softened into a lighter expression and turned a little bit, as if to draw attention to the papers. “I’ll help you clean this mess up, if you’ll show me how to do this equation.” There was a lilt to his voice, making it more a question than an offer.

Alex’s eyes darted to the papers, and then, abruptly, he turned back to what he was doing. “Go ask Jon.”

He heard Alan scoff behind him. “Fine,” the younger muttered, sounding grumpy. “Come find us when you’re done sulking.”

Irate, he swung around to say he wasn’t sulking, but Alan was already leaving the practice room, and the words died on Alex’s tongue in a huff. He sighed and grumbled and turned back to his practice.

That night, after dinner, he knocked on the door of Alan’s room. When the redhead opened the door, he could see Jon sitting on the bed behind him, looking curious, books and papers spread all across the bedspread around him. Alex nodded at him, before his gaze turned down to meet Alan’s bright ones. The younger boy was frowning at him, impatient, and prickly.

Alex smiled slightly. “What was that equation you needed help with?”

Alan blinked, and then blinked again, before a bright smile spread across his face, lighting it up. He hurried back over to his bed, searching among the pages and pages of work for his mathematics lessons. Alex followed at a more relaxed pace, sitting down on a free spot Jon cleared for him, folding his legs up tailor style. Jon looked at him with a faint smile.

“About time.”

With a smirk and a shake of his head, Alex ignored the comment as Alan shoved a page under his nose. He leaned down, laying it on the bedspread where both of the pages could see. “Alright, start with this one-”

Maybe it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, being the lone squire among pages. He would make sure that someday, no one would be able to overlook him ever again. And until that time, he still had friends, at least.


End file.
